


Accelerate

by Transistors



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Best Friends, Canon Compliant, Friendship, Gen, Light Angst, Male-Female Friendship, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-05
Updated: 2017-12-05
Packaged: 2019-02-11 01:02:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12923979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Transistors/pseuds/Transistors
Summary: When Lena gets her chronal accelerator finally, after months of Winston studying and experimenting, she almost can’t believe it’s real.





	Accelerate

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to write something with a happy edge to it despite the slightly angsty connotations to it [Lena fading in and out of reality and all that], so I wrote Lena getting her chronal accelerator for the first time ever!
> 
> [Tumblr link.](https://masculinedevil.tumblr.com/post/168225491027/title-accelerate-summary-when-lena-gets-her)

Everything weighs heavy on her shoulders. She hunches over, trying not to think about it all; the accelerator whirs on her chest, an uncomfortable reminder of the state she is now in, and Winston can only reach out to let a hand rest on her aching back. For once her body feels _whole_ ; everything around her stays the same, no longer does everything slip from her hands as she attempts to reach out; she can actually _feel_ Winston’s hand on her, heavy and furry, resting on the top of her back while she tries to settle this all out.

Guilt gnaws at her and her hands, fingers spread wide open and Lena stares at the lines of her palms; once, she remembers, going to a palm reader to see what they have had to say, and the omnic’s words echo in her head: _“Tragedy awaits you. In every way.”_ The words echo and thump against her bones, an unwanted heartbeat, and Lena almost laughs in the absurdity of it all. “Lena?” Winston asks, his voice uncertain, and she looks over her shoulder and up at the big guy who is looking down at her with pure worry.

A part of her clenches up; what can she tell the big guy? That she is happy to even be considered a human again? Even if... even if with uncalled for benefits? Words drag themselves up her throat and sit on the tip of her tongue, lips opening up to try and say something and yet the sentence does not leap out of her mouth. Instead she looks back to her hands, to the lines that stare back at her; escaping up to the time stream is what she waits for, a flicker in time that will remind her that she does not _exist._

Waiting has always been her weakest point; adrenaline always rushes through her blood, excitement bubbling up in her belly and then demanding she be a go-getter, be the start of everything and everyone. Now, however? All she can do is stare at her palms and wait for any signs of blue, of her particles disintegrating and tearing before they come back together, the pain not enough to make her scream but it does make Lena wince whenever the pinpricks hit her.

Similar to the blood rush after numbing out, tingling unpleasantly as her body tries to rapidly compensate for the cut off of blood. Winston behind her is comfortingly quiet; he sits next to her, his hands in front of him and between his small legs as they lounge together and wait. He stares at her face, a worried frown on his mouth, and Lena only focuses on her palms.

Any time now, any time; her reality will break, the time stream will drag her away and Lena will find herself going back and forth between the world she wants to be in and the world she is confined to. Any time; any time, she repeats to herself, a mantra, any time now she will be gone and Winston will only feel disappointment at not being able to ground her.

Minutes pass by, until half an hour has struck with them both in absolute stillness and Lena lets out a sob. Her hands curl up into fists, her nails sinking into her skin and the pain that follows make her sob louder; tears gather up at her eyes and begin to slip down quickly, ferociously, and Lena is full on wailing now and Winston’s hands come up to rest on her shoulders.

He hugs her close, lets Lena cry and she wraps her arms around him; feels the strands furs between her fingertips, feels them press into her skin and make her itch, feels the warmth of another living being against her own body. Hot sunlight filters in through the windows and burns the bit of her legs in the way, makes her twitch and Lena can’t stop the tears while hiccupping and wailing. One large hand rubs her back up and down, a comforting weight that reminds her that Winston is here and real, that her hands won’t pass through him as reality begins to tear itself apart.

“You did it,” Lena whimpers out, “you did it. _You did it._ You did it! You did it-“ she repeats, over and over again, and Winston just tries to shush her while he holds onto her as tight as he can. “I’m here. _I’m actually here._ Thank you, thank you, thank you...” and Winston just rocks her back and forth, lets her soak his sweater with tears and snot and Lena can’t stop crying. “I’m actually here. I’m actually here. I’m-

“I can talk to Emily again. I can—I can hug her. I’m real. I’m actually—I’m actually— _I’m here._ This is real—this is real—” and Winston holds her through it all, lets her sob and cry her heart out until all she can do is hiccup, and Lena curls up into him. She rubs at her puffy eyes, tries to wipe away the trails and get rid of the upset in her eyes, and Winston looks down at her kindly.

“This is real.” He affirms her after a while of her looking up at him searchingly, and Lena’s eyes slip shut again as she tries to hold back her tears. “Do you want me to call Emily? We can go visit her together.”

Her hands press up against her chronal accelerator and she nods, tears slipping through her shut eyes and wetting her eyelashes, her nose sniffling grossly as her crying starts up all over again. Winston puts one hand on her shoulder and then walks past, lets her cry, and all Lena can do is thank God above, over and over again, for her new lifeline.

On her chest whirs the accelerator, a return to life, and Lena cannot stop her tears.


End file.
